When the founder of the world’s largest hedge fund and the director of the NNACP Legal Defense Fund issue identical warnings, I tend to take notice.
And that is what has happened this week when both Ray Dalio and Sherrilyn Ifill said that our democracy is at risk.
Over the past few months, other experts have raised similar fears, but most of them are political scientists and historians, who are more easily dismissed by those who wish to dismiss such talk.
Our big problem is that historically when the economic and political circumstances that favor the rise of extremism converge, the danger increases, and that is what all of these experts are noting about our present situation.
“The internal conflict between left and right, rich and poor, Democrats and Republicans, (is) producing a level of conflict in the U.S. that is the highest since 1900,” notes Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates. “‘If the causes people are behind are more important to them than the system, the system is in jeopardy.”
In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg News, Dalio also considers global factors like inflation, debt, currency instability and the increasing likelihood of conflict with China.
In a podcast with the Times, Ifill discusses the implications of Kyle Rittenhouse being acquitted of shooting people at a Black Lives Matter event. Rittenhouse went to the event armed and ready to kill, but he was exonerated by a jury on the grounds that he acted in self-defense.
This, of course, just deepens the internal discord in the U.S. over the ingrained racism that is one of the ugliest and intractable of all of our domestic issues. That Rittenhouse is emerging as a hero to right-wing extremists is an ominous sign for the future.
He should be the object of our collective disgust.
Part of me honestly hates to bring up these warnings at Christmas, a time of year many of us seek peace and comfort and joy with our families, but a more significant part of me knows that we ignore these warnings at our grave peril.
And the first test of how serious that peril is will come as soon as next year’s elections.
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Jack Dorsey’s hot Web3 takes are apparently too much for Marc Andreessen to handle — The venture capitalist blocked the former Twitter CEO, and Dorsey said he’s now ‘banned from Web3’ (The Verge)
Ray Dalio warns Fed’s hands are tied and higher U.S. inflation is sticking around. Democracy, maybe not.(MarketWatch)
Sherrilyn Ifill: ‘There Is No Guarantee We Make It Out of This Period as a Democracy’ — After almost a decade at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Ifill explains why advocacy is an essential part of her legal work. (NYT)
Multiple studies suggest lower risk of hospitalization with Omicron variant of COVID-19 (CBS)
FDA authorizes second antiviral pill to treat Covid-19 (CNN)
The Supreme Court will hold a special session in just over two weeks — an extraordinarily fast timeline — to weigh challenges to two Biden administration policies covering vaccine requirements for workers. The cases cover large employers and health care workers. [AP]
Rising COVID-19 infections in China's city of Xian have spurred a lockdown of its 13 million residents, with stretches of highway eerily bare, as many people queued in the cold to get their noses swabbed at testing sites. (Reuters)
Another Surge in the Virus Has Colleges Fearing a Mental Health Crisis (NYT)
Some good pandemic news to end a bad pandemic year — A new Covid treatment and more promising signs on Omicron's severity. (Politico)
US Army claims it is close to developing vaccine against all Covid variants and coronaviruses (Independent)
What ‘Squid Game’ tells us about the changing face of globalisation — A new type of connectivity is emerging, and it’s no longer dominated by America (Financial Times)
The F.B.I. Deployed Surveillance Teams Inside Portland Protests (NYT)
Payments on federal student loans will remain paused through May 1, interest rates will remain at 0% during that period, and debt collection efforts will be suspended, in an extension of a pandemic policy. President Joe Biden said financial recovery from the pandemic will take longer than job recovery, especially for those with student loans. [AP]
Pillar of Shame: Hong Kong's Tiananmen Square statue removed (BBC)
As Humanitarian Disaster Looms, U.S. Opens Door for More Afghanistan Aid (NYT)
UN exempts humanitarian aid to Afghans from ban (NHK)
U.N. Plans $8 Billion Fund to Restart Afghanistan’s Economy (WSJ)
Changing climate parches Afghanistan, exacerbating poverty (AP)
Israeli archaeologists find hundreds of precious antiquities in shipwrecks (WP)
Writer Joan Didion, chronicler of contemporary American society, dies at 87 (Reuters)
Food To Leave Out For God On Christmas Eve (The Onion)
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